Ottawa Sun
Published: Wednesday, December 2, 2009 Growing on the country: Tories would be wise not to gloat over turmoil in Liberal land Recently some observers in the national punditocracy have speculated that the continued polling success of the Conservative government -- despite this fall's question period tempests of the cautious economic recovery, early H1N1 vaccination challenges and Afghan detainee abuse allegations -- could be a sign the country is shifting rightward in its political orientation. As an admitted "blue" partisan it would be easy (and very comforting) to buy into this analysis. However, current Tory success is not rooted in any seismic shifts in our political culture (even though aging populations are assumed to become more conservative); rather it is rooted in positional fortune, tactical smarts and a maturing comprehension of the reality of governing Canada. To start, the diminished state of the official opposition gives the Tories obvious positional fortune. Liberals are not used to being out of power and the back-to-back tandem of Dion-Ignatieff (the awkward professors) is only exacerbating this ingrained impatience within Liberal ranks. However, Tories would be wise not to gloat over the present turmoil in Grit-land as the painful memories of being a divided and dispirited opposition from 1993 to 2003 are a reminder that humility in their present circumstance, along with empathy for their foes, is the better disposition to adopt. Turning to tactical considerations, in my hardly humble opinion, I believe that ideological positioning is not an overwhelming driver of the government's agenda, nor has it ever been. In fact, the traditional left-centre-right political spectrum analysis is becoming as historic as the Cold War itself. Just as those of a "progressive" persuasion don't have a monopoly on compassion or environmental concerns, neither do conservatives own the sphere of market solutions to social policy problems, nor do we occupy the high ground for increased defence spending against our stateless and ruthless enemies. To bring this into real world focus, NDP, Liberal or Conservative politicians and pundits can all equally speak to the merits of promoting clean technology jobs or the critical importance of the biopharmaceutical sector and public health officials collaborating during a pandemic. There is a litany of issue positions which are independent of political doctrine. The continued in-roads the Conservatives are making into a variety of ethnic communities, especially in metropolitan regions, are testament to this fact. By simply offering consistency in foreign policy positions and practical tax policy changes that reflect the challenges of 21st-century families -- from helping kids in sports to choice in child care to making the reality of home ownership and improvement more tangible -- they have been rewarded. Finally, the prime minister and his team have become quite adept at governing. Moreover, Stephen Harper, like the most successful PMs in our history (Liberal and Conservative), has leaned and adapted to the reality of exerting influence and exercising power through the machinery of government over our vast, but sill sparsely populated land mass. At the end of the day it is about setting direction, managing a finite set of issues that the government can impact and control and balancing competing and historical interests like east versus west, federal versus provincial, urban versus rural, old economy versus new economy, and linguistic duality. The country is not growing more conservative; the conservatives are just growing on the country. |